As the former President of the Club For Growth, it’s no surprise that Pat Toomey’s seen more money spent on his behalf than any other Senate candidate in the country, with total expenditures already surpassing $2.5 million despite the fact that it’s summer of the off year.

As the 50th Anniversary of Medicare approaches, the DSCC is highlighting the various ways in which vulnerable Republican Senators like Rob Portman have sought to undermine and dismantle Medicare. It’s an election year, so Portman and these Senators are working to run as far and fast as they can from their records, but this week we’re shining a light on the votes they’ve cast and comments they’ve made that indicate how they really feel about the program that has allowed millions of Americans the chance to retire with dignity.

In light of Medicare’s 50th anniversary, this week the DSCC will hammer Republican Senators & candidates for their terrible records on Medicare. Our effort is called “GOP Medicare Memories” and will dive into their voting records, history of anti-Medicare statements, and feature a paid digital component on Facebook and Twitter as well as a fundraising push.

DSCC BESTS NRSC IN JUNE, FIRST HALF OF YEAR FUNDRAISING. The DSCC reported another strong fundraising month, raising $5.6 million in June, $1.5 million more than the NRSC, and reporting $8.9 cash-on-hand, $2.4 million more than the NRSC. The DSCC has now outraised the NRSC in four out of six months this cycle despite being in the minority, and has already outraised the NRSC by a total of $3 million this cycle -- $27 million to $23.9 million.

Mark Kirk spent the weekend frantically attempting to walk back his inflammatory charge that President Obama wants “to get nukes to Iran” and that thousands in the Middle East would lose their lives “because of this decision by Barack Hussein Obama.” He also compared the Iran deal to Nazi appeasement pre-World War II. After once again finding himself amid a firestorm of criticism, Kirk tried to backtrack, suggesting that “That was me being too carried away.”

LOPEZ-CANTERA’S EPIC DISASTER OF A ROLLOUT. Florida Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera officially announced his bid for Senate this week, joining an already crowded primary field. The reaction to Lopez-Cantera’s big announcement was less than enthusiastic – but how much enthusiasm can you expect when you’ve been wasting taxpayer money and not doing your job? Don’t just take it from us, the headlines surrounding Lopez-Cantera’s announcement speak for themselves…

Today, Senator Toomey chose to protect millionaires and billionaires rather than support an amendment that would expand access to high-quality preschool programs. Senator Toomey joined Republican Senators up for re-election next year in voting to kill the Casey amendment to expand access to quality early childhood education.

As questions abound as to just how much Kelly Ayotte exerted political pressure to obstruct progress on the New Hampshire state budget for political purposes, her GOP allies in the state are going to bat for her and refusing to release records about the matter.